In its lawsuit, the pilots union said the federal jobs minister approved a WestJet application for 60 temporary work permits on March 10.
The department said it does not disclose information on individual cases to outside parties due to privacy concerns.
While the union stressed safety as a possible concern, one expert noted the rigorous standards facing aviation operators.
John Gradek, who teaches aviation management at McGill University, explained that before foreign pilots can join a flight crew, they must pass written exams and obtain an airline transport pilot licence from Transport Canada, among other qualifications.
“They’re not a piece of cake,” he said.
Any pilots brought on board through the program would likely be union members and earn union wages, Perry said.
“But we are not sure if there are any peripheral pieces that are either paid beyond what is offered in our contract to pilots already working, or if there are items that WestJet believes they don’t have to honour. Both would be a problem,” the union head said.
The option of temporary foreign workers could also shrink airlines’ incentives to improve pilot retention through bigger contract gains come bargaining time, Perry added. If more pilots choose to leave the carrier, others from faraway shores could be recruited short-term.
Asked why it was considering this new recruitment method and how severe its pilot shortage was, WestJet said the application to permit it to hire temporary foreign workers offered one possible way to bolster its ranks.
The process “is one of multiple avenues we are exploring to address operational needs amid an ongoing shortage of WestJet Encore Captains,” airline spokeswoman Kaiser said.
Employing temporary foreign workers as captains — like WestJet suggested — rather than first officers would allow for potentially bigger savings.
“The salary level that you would get as a WestJet Encore captain is higher than what you have as a WestJet Encore first officer. But if you have a ‘direct entry’ captain, there’s a lower wage scale than a guy who’s got 10 or 15 years’ worth of service,” said Gradek.
Moreover, those new temporary foreign captains might not stick around long enough to see the substantial wage hikes that come with more years of service.
A spike in pilots from abroad in the captain’s chair could also reduce the opportunities for promotion among Canadian first officers.
Gradek further questioned the premise that large airlines and their feeder carriers, such as WestJet Encore, suffer from a pilot shortage.
“There are hundreds of potential pilots in the pipeline that we have in Canada,” he said.